In La Matanza de Acentejo: God bless this home
I was born in Tenerife (Canary Islands). When I was three years old I moved to Barcelona with my family. However, for years we would spend our summer holidays in La Matanza de Acentejo, a small village in the north of the island. I really have good memories from that time. Every Sunday we went to church and after Mass my older brother and me were invited to have lunch in “Las Primas Yayas”’ summer house. “Las Primas Yayas” were my cousins' mothers, two kind and lovely sisters in their sixties who made me feel really important. One of them, Candelaria, was single because she had an argument with her boyfriend about a silly thing years before. The other one, Isabel, was married to Fernando, a strong and quiet man who had lived in America and was a great fan of classical music. The three of them lived together with Josefa, a simple but brilliant woman who was the person in charge of the meals and housecleaning. In the past, their summer house had been part of a Franciscan Hospice, built and opened by D.Lorenzo Fernández de Armas in 1732. Some architecture details revealed his past as an hospice and religion was spiritually present in every corner of the house. Recently I went back with my family to las Primas Yayas’ house to spend part of our summer holidays. Its four inhabitants moved away a long time ago but I can still remember my summer Sunday lunches in this house.
My grandmother Paca, Isabel with her mother Carmen and Josefa
